GLADD Releases New Study, LGBT’s Are Underrepresented In Movies. DUH!

GLADDaka the artist organization formerly known as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamationion has released a study finding that LGBT characters are grossly underrepresented in the movies.

SHOCKING RIGHT?

GLAAD staffers reviewed (and wasted time and money) the 101 films released by 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Sony’s Columbia, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. to search for the presence of LGBT characters and content to only find out what we already know.

GLAAD gave Fox and Disney “failing” grades for the lack of “LGBT-inclusive films,” with Disney releasing one such movie, “The Avengers,” and Fox putting out none. The remaining four studios received “adequate” ratings. None received a grade of “good” or “excellent.”

“Hollywood films are one of the country’s most visible cultural exports. They not only impact culture in our country, but in other places too,” said GLAAD spokesman Wilson Cruz, who noted the recent passage of an anti-gay law in Russia that makes it a crime to publicly support “nontraditional” relationships. “It is a very timely report.”

Interstingly films released by the studios’ specialty imprints, such as Universal’s Focus Features, were not included in the tallies. Companies like Focus, Sony Pictures Classics and Fox Searchlight Pictures — all known for their independent sensibilities — released films in 2012 that featured LGBT characters. Under the parameters of GLAAD’s “study”, the Academy Award winning film “Milk,” which was released by Focus in 2008, wouldn’t have been included in the tally if it were released today.

GLAAD considered whether to include those specialty imprints’ films in the tallies of pictures released by their parent companies, but opted not to in part because it wanted to focus on the area in which studios “commit the majority of their capital and promotional efforts.” (and were most probably the best to hit up for donations)

GLAAD which has lost relevancy and donations in the LGBT community due to recent scandals, mismanagement and lack of focus should know better than to waste of time and money answers that we already know and perhaps actually do something really meaningful to change them.

You can read the full GLAAD 2013 Studio Responsibility Index here. if you want to be bored to death by something that you already know.

Oh fiddle-dee-dee!

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Will Kohler is one of America's well known LGBT historians, He is also a a accredited journalist and the owner of Back2Stonewall.com.
A longtime gay activist Will fought on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic with ACT-UP and continues fighting today for LGBT acceptance and full equality.
Will’s work has been referenced in notable media venues as BBC News, CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The Daily Wall Street Journal, Hollywood Reporter, and Raw Story,
Mr. Kohler is available for comment, interviews and lectures on LGBT History.
Contact: Will@Back2Stonewall.com